My apologies, just got back from a friend's wedding in Roswell, GA. Didn't really expect to get invited after my last five submissions were turned down for other pbps :) Thrilled to be invited, and wanting to play if there's still room.

Gunther, glad to have you, and you are definitely still welcome to join!

Harold covered the tracking mechanism - it also allows you to click the "Campaigns" tab in your profile and have the threads appear there. That way you don't have to scroll through everything to find the correct place to post.

What I would recommend is go ahead and post a "flashback" introduction during the period when Gunther arrived at the house. In a separate post, you can catch up to the story as the group arrives at The Restlands.

To conduct research, characters should roll any relevant Knowledge checks - arcana, history, local, planes, etc. Researching a topic requires 1 person to spend 8 hours on the task, but this can be divided up into several people; i.e. 2 people would require 4 hours, 4 people need 2 hours, etc. If divided up, each person needs to make a skill check.

Is it possible for multiple people researching the same topic to Aid Another on the Knowledge checks? For example, if Korvus and three others are researching the Whispering Way at the Professor's house, could Korvus (with a +10 to Know (arcana)) be the primary roller with the others making DC 10 Aid Another checks to each add +2 to his roll?

Short answer: yes to aid another, but I determine the "primary roller" based on who gets the best circumstance bonuses to researching.

Long answer: there is a complex table containing the locations, topics, and various possible skills that could be used in research, as well as bonuses associated with each of those subjects.

Based on these criteria, the "primary" researcher is determined, and all the others who also roll become secondary and aid the primary roll. The good news is that it almost always works out best for the characters, since the primary is nearly always the character with the highest bonus. Occasionally though, another character may end up with a higher research bonus, so they become the primary instead of the character with a higher skill check modifier.

The problem with going into a long explanation is that the table is really difficult to explain or post, so I try to simplify the process by just asking everyone to roll, looking at the results, and consulting the table when/if I need it.

So, that's why I just asked for everyone to roll, sorry for confusing the issue, my intent is definitely to simplify everything for you guys in a way that won't have any negative consequences.

I have posted a link to an Obsidian Portal site I created to provide players with easy access to information such as Player Handouts and Maps. The link can be found in the 'Campaign Info' tab at the top of this page.

On the OP site, you can find a map of Ravengro in the 'Maps' tab, with a legend in the 'Wiki' tab.

I plan to continue and add information as the campaign continues, but please let me know if you have any suggestions or questions.

Sorry guys. Last couple weeks have been a crap shoot on time for me. Wasn't sure if I'd even have a job by the end of last week. New contract got awarded at the last minute to another company that came in and lowbid our contract to a point where I, along with many others, had to decide was it worth it working for them or 'Screw you guys, we're going home' (\Cartman). It's been ironed out for the moment.